Raith (, "fort" or "fortified residence"), as an area of

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, once stretched from the lands of Little Raith (earlier Wester Raith), south of

Loch Gelly Loch Gelly (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Gheallaidh'') is a small loch in Fife, Scotland lying approximately 1.5 km to the south east of the town of Lochgelly which itself is named after the loch. The Gaelic name of the loch, Loch Gheallaidh, ca ...

, as far as

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

and the

Battle of Raith The Battle of Raith was the theory of E. W. B. Nicholson, librarian at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. He was aware of the poem Y Gododdin in the Book of Aneirin and was aware that no-one had identified the location " Catraeth". He parsed the nam ...

was once theorised to have been fought here in 596 AD. Raith Hill, west of

Auchtertool Auchtertool (; ) is a small village in Fife, Scotland. It is 4 miles west of Kirkcaldy. The name is from the Gaelic ''uachdar'', meaning ''upland'' or ''heights'' above the Tiel burn (from Gaelic ''tuil'' meaning ''torrent'').Taylor, Simon (2007 ...

and immediately to the east of the

Mossmorran The Mossmorran Natural-gas condensate, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant is part of the northern North Sea Brent oilfield, Brent oil and gas field system and is located on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath, Scotland. The Mossmorran facilities comprise ...

fractionation plant, may also be in reference to this wider area or may refer to an actual fort on this hill, distinct to the one naming the area. The name is found in Kirkcaldy's professional football team,

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

. This name was earlier borne by an entirely distinct team, probably named for the Little Raith colliery, east of

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

, which merged with Cowdenbeath Rangers to form Cowdenbeath F. C. Raith House and the 19th-century folly Raith Tower sit on Cormie Hill to the west of Kirkcaldy. The former was designed by James Smith in the

Palladian style Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

in the 1690s, remodelled and extended by James Playfair in the 1780s and the library and garden remodelled in 1899 by

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...

. To the southeast, the artificial Raith Lake was formed by the damming of the Dronachy Burn in 1811 and 1812. From the late nineteenth century onwards, tracts of land of the Raith Estate were sold off and developed for housing and to form the town's

Beveridge Park Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

, expanding Kirkcaldy westwards. The modern housing estate bearing the Raith name dates from the latter part of the 20th century, long after the origins of the football team.

References

External links

''History of the county of Fife: from the earliest period to the present time''
pp 150–155
''A Descriptive and Historical Gazetteer of the Counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan''
p62-63

self-published website containing quotes from various publications and historical documents, in regard to Raith House and its estate Geography of Fife Areas of Kirkcaldy Cowdenbeath {{Fife-geo-stub

See also

References

External links